New SNCOs inducted into Top 3

Published Jan. 22, 2007
By SrA Amanda Mills
Public Affairs

Vance Air Force Base, Okla. -- Ten Vance Air Force Base NCOs were welcomed into the elite senior NCO ranks during a ceremony Oct. 7 at the Vance Club.
The Top 3-sponsored event included a formal entrance, candle-lighting ceremony and the reading of the Senior NCO Challenge and Oath.
After the readings, Command Chief Master Sergeant Jeff Kallas and MSgt Jerry Phillips, Top 3 president, presented each inductee with the Senior NCO Creed.
The inductees were: MSgts Lee Diekmann, 71st Medical Group; Susan Eldridge, 71st MDG; and Christopher Goff, 33rd Flying Training Squadron; and MSgt selects Russell Black, 71st Operations Support Squadron; Vivian Bolden, 25th FTS; Edward Curley, 71st OSS; Gregory Hall, 71st Communications Squadron; Ricky Herring, 71st OSS; Oscar Jacobs, 71st MDG; and Donald Theademan, 71st Security Forces Squadron.
"Obviously, this is a giant step in my Air Force career," Sergeant Curley said. "The ceremony was awesome. The Top 3 did a good job, and I appreciate the formal transition from the NCO to senior NCO ranks."
Before being inducted, the NCOs first had to complete a three-day seminar covering a variety of topics which focused on today's leadership challenges, bridging the gap between the NCO Academy and the Senior NCO Academy. The seminar covered topics from health and fitness to promotions and from discussions with the wing commander and command chief to an Airmen's panel discussion.
In the U.S. Air Force, a master sergeant is one who has mastered the techniques and abilities required of noncommissioned officers, according to the ceremony script. From its inception in 1947, one of the chief goals of the Air Force was to create a stable, well-trained cadre of career-bound NCOs. The Air Force is a young service, but the responsibility of the master sergeant is clearly defined by those who have discharged it with honor. The senior NCO induction ceremony demonstrates a commonality of purpose among the enlisted leadership that the senior enlisted corps will work together to achieve the common goals of protecting our nation and way of life, taking care of people and accomplishing the mission.